Critical Analysis of the Novel Misery

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College Writing One

November 17, 2008

Critical Analysis of the Novel Misery

"If you don't have the time to read, you don't have the time or the tools to write"(King 1), words spoken by the most influential writer of horror fiction, Stephen King. Stephen King was born on September 21, 1947 in Portland, Main to Donald and Ruth King. Stephen began his actual writing career in January of 1959, when David, his high school friend, decided to publish their own local newspaper called "Dave's Rag". All throughout high school, Stephen and his friends wrote many novels. During college, his first year, King completed his first full-length novel, "The Long Walk." He submitted it to Bennett Cerf/Random House only to have it rejected. With the disappointing news, he put his first novel away for good. In 1970 he graduated from the University of Maine and the next year he married Tabitha Spruce. Struggling to survive in the real world, he had many other jobs besides writing. King also worked as a janitor, worked at a laundry mat and a knitting mill and lastly he worked as a high school English teacher. While being a teacher, King wrote the novel Carrie. Building up a lot of courage from himself and his wife, he sent a copy to Doubleday. Luckily they loved it and King received half the profits from the book. He then quit his job and now lives at home in Bangor, Maine continuing to write more novels. Stephen king, a world wide successful writer, will forever be known as the "Master of Horror" (Skibinski)

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Stephen King's novel, Misery, shows that bad decisions and choices can lead to haunting consequences; through the state of the possession by an evil being. By King's representation of outcomes for the characters in the novel, it leads to circumstances characterized through symbolism, irony and conflict.

The many tools that Paul Sheldon uses for survival in the novel can be categorized as symbols. For example, one symbol that Stephen King uses is the typewriter that Annie Wilkes, Paul's crazy caretaker, buys him. Not only is the typewriter old and of no use, but it is also missing the letter "N", making Paul's job to write a novel even more complicated. The typewriter is used as a symbol in the novel because it is a key to Paul's survival. In other words, it is keeps Paul alive. The typewriter is keeping Paul alive because Annie believes that there is no reason to live without the continuation of Paul's books. Alas, Paul has no idea until later, "Ah Annie, you were lying to both of us. I knew it and you did to." (King 63) Annie is dearly in love with Paul's Misery books, but since Paul killed off the main character in his novel, Annie has no reason to live and she thinks that Paul has no reason to live either. So, Paul has to use the old typewriter to write a sequel just for Annie. But if he does not write a new novel she will kill him and the typewriter is his only way to create the new novel. The typewriter is also symbol because it represents Paul. The typewriter is broken, with a missing letter and Paul is impaired with his broken legs. As described in the novel, "the roller was dusty, it's hard rubber scarred and pitted" (King 58) and "It already looked like

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trouble" (58). King describes the typewriter so vividly that Paul already knows that it will cause him anger, this symbolizing Paul's horrible condition that Annie has placed

upon him. As a result, Stephen King uses the typewriter as a symbol not only for King's survival but his condition. In the end, the poor decisions that Paul made in the past, end up having bad consequences in the finish. The typewriter, described as symbol, only gives Paul consequences because the typewriter is one of the keys to survival. Also because of his bad decision to drive drunk, which was the cause of his accident, he is impaired just like the typewriter.

Stephen King is known for very detailed writing strategies. Throughout the book, King tends to be very detailed and descriptive about how Annie takes care of Paul. Most of the novel is how Annie takes care of Paul and how she attempts to nurse him back to good health. Therefore, the actual caring of Paul is symbolic throughout the piece of literature. Annie uses many techniques to nurse Paul. But mainly the medicine that she gives to Paul is symbolic. In the book, Annie is revealed as very intelligent, so when Paul does not behave, there are consequences. She deprives him of his medicine. In the beginning of the story, Annie uses the Norvil for the accident that Paul was in. But as the story goes on, Annie starts to inflict pain on Paul, making Paul more addicted to the medicine then ever before. King uses the medicine as a symbol of Paul's insanity. If he does not get his medicine he takes risks that cause awful consequences. He is so addicted to this drug that he thinks of many ways to save it because Annie deprives him of it, "I'll

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put it under my tongue when I swallow the other one"(Sheila). Without this pill, Paul can't work, concentrate or do anything. Stephen King uses the Norvil drug as a symbol of Paul's insanity because he is so addicted to it he needs it or else he will go insane. King also uses the Norvil medicine as a torture technique for Annie to inflict on Paul. Annie hurts Paul even more by slamming down on his legs because he acted up and she also did not give him any medicine for the throbbing pain she put on him. She tortures Paul, one by physically hurting him and two by depriving him of the medicine. "It's like looking at an instrument of torture", as described in the novel by Paul, the medicine is a symbol for torment (King 63). Ultimately, Stephen King uses the Norvil medicine as a symbol for Paul's insanity and torture methods for Annie. The bad decisions that Paul made before he got into this problem lead him to having had consequences; going insane and being deprived of pain killers.

In Stephen King's novel, Misery, he displays a great deal of irony. Such as the setting of the story. The setting of the book is in the northern part of Colorado during the wintertime. The setting is ironic because it's in one area the whole time. Annie seems to do all of her dirty work in one area, one house and one room. The setting is also ironic because there is a worldwide author, Paul Sheldon missing, and yet no one

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